1. Field
The information disclosed in this patent relates electrical communication devices having condition responsive indicators, including an alarm that may be automatically operated to produce humanly perceptible signals in response to changes in communication between a transmitter and a receiver.
2. Background Information
In the last twenty years, information exchange has moved to the forefront of modern society. To meet consumer information exchange demands, manufacturers produce numerous handheld communication devices, including mobile phones, i-pods, palmtops, laptops, electronic diaries, and digital cameras. These small items are easily lost and, because of the resale value of the device and the information stored therein, there is a black market on which stolen communication devices may be illegally sold.
There is a worldwide epidemic of theft and/or loss of handheld information, communication, and telecommunication (ICT) equipment. Cell phone theft is the most commonly lost or stolen handheld communication device. For example, a cell phone is stolen every 3 minutes in the United Kingdom. In the United States, over 150,000 Samsung handsets were stolen in 2003 alone and recently a thief ran up US$26,000 in unauthorized (mostly international) charges on a cell phone stolen in New York for which the subscriber was liable. MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd. reports that consumers replace an average of 50,000 mobile phones within MTN'S system each month. The theft of cell phones in Nigeria has become so problematic, that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently urged owners to safeguard their handsets and held consultation meetings in August 2006 to discuss the need to introduce a national scheme to curtail the theft of mobile phones in Nigeria.
To guard against loss or theft of their cell phone, cell phone users are told to lock their cell phone with a password and keep track of where their cell phone is at all times. However, thieves have sophisticated systems to override cell phone passwords. Moreover, modern life is fast-paced and confusing, and it is easy to lose or misplace small items of value such as a cell phone.
What is needed is a system to alert a user in the event that their handheld communication device becomes lost or stolen.